Backing up your pc using system image, recovery system, or clean instalation???

[DragonDrayce]

Good day to everyone!

 

I recently reinstaled windows on my pc and laptop, and i did a lot of reinstalations in the past on different pc's. 

 

Now, as many might know, reinstalling windows and instaling every program and files on your pc can be frustrating, and apart from that sometimes a clean instalation of windows may cause different problems for unknown reasons.

 

So any time i reinstall windows, i usually remember the files and reinstall anything necesarry. Then, after reinstalation i use "restoro" to check the system stability and repair it if needed, as well as make a save point of the system after i instaled everything properly. 

 

However, i have a lot of software and files that i am using in everyday to day life. I have an external drive that i copy all the files that i need usually, but that doesnt mean that the reinstalation is not frustrating in some cases, especially if i have 2 pc's.

 

Therefore i tried to find a solution for this problem. 

 

Now, i have 2 pc's, one of which is a custom build one in Ghost s1 case, and the other is a MSI prestige laptop. So if i to backup my pc's in any way, i have a few options avaliable:

 

MSI laptop has a software called MSI system image recovery, which copies the files to an external usb or any drive, CD, or via internet. But what it actually makes is a recovery drive, which means it is essentially a boot usb drive with windows 10 on it. This provides a clean instalation of windows using a usb drive if the system fails in the future.

 

The other options that are included in windows, and it goes for both of my pc's, are:

1) Archive system in windows settings that copies the personal files on to a drive

2) System recovery tool that is esentially the same thing as MSI system image recovery

3) Disk image, which is a tool that copies your entire drive, in order to recover it if something goes wrong

 

Considering all these factors, the best option for me would be a creation of disk image after a clean windows reinstalation, so any time, if my system fails, i can get the drive and restore my system to a fresh start with everything needed saved. As if nothing happend. This is a convinient way of reinstaling windows, so you dont have to worry about reinstaling programs, software, drivers, etc.

 

But! there are some dificulties with all these plans. The disk image cannot be backed up on a usb, i have no idea why, although in a lot of tutorials there is a way to back up on a usb. it didnt work for me. therefore i could have used an external program, but all of them are rubish considering you need to pay or they need to be installed at all times, etc.

 

 

So the main questions are:

1) Is there a way to completely copy your pc? so that in case your system dies or malfunctions, you can reboot and restore your pc to its original state with clean windows, all your personal files, drivers, software etc, considering that your copy is in perfect condition 

2) Using a old software "Backup and Restore (Windows 7)" in the control panel, you can create a disk image. However, some tutorials show that it can be created on a usb with enough capacity using NTFS format. but it didnt work for me, it only shows that "cannot back up to this external drive" (there was enough capacity on a usb, and it was formated in NTFS, but no luck) is there a way?

3) If a usb doesnt work, i have an external 2TB hard drive, but i have 300GB of files there, will it be a good idea to back up there? will the disk be formated?

4) If the only way to create a system image is through a hard drive can i save 2 system images? one from my laptop, and one from my pc?

 

If there are alternatives to reinstaling clean windows with drivers, files, softwares, tools etc, please let me know, all that i found was this information.

 

Thank you very much for your patience, i appretiate your help.

[Alan G]

I can only tell you what I do.  My Work Station runs the OS and programs off a 500 GB SSD.  I have two hard drives, one is the data drive and the 2nd is for storing back ups.  I use NovaBACKUP for all the data files.  This is automated and backs up to both the hard drive and Amazon cloud storage daily.  The program also can do system imaging that can be used to restore everything that is on the SSD in the case of failure.  You need to prepare a USB boot device from the program which will let you do the restore process.  I've not had to restore the OS drive as I have yet to have one fail.  The system is reimaged every Sunday night so I always have the most current one available.  Another option would be to install a second SSD of equivalent size and clone the OS drive on a periodic basis so that you always had a back up drive.  This is what I've done with my HTPC that drives my television set with Windows 7.

[pryinglynx_nerve]

1) Yes. These are called images. Macrium or Acronis can do this.

2) Acronis / Macriuim will do this but more efficiently. you will need some minor knowledge of rebuild bootmgr or UEFI boot tables if you make mistakes, though, it's not hard.

3) Generally, don't keep important data like system images on flash memory like SSDs / USBs.

4) Yes, you can have multiple images for multiple computers.